Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 99A featherweight?

I am no pro but this looks like a nice rifle, I am thinking about purchasing it. Price is 885$

Description;
up for grabs is a savage 99A 24" featherweight. made from 1927-1937. about 70% blue left on barrel and frame. some visable case colors. levers smooth and nice bore. a really nice gun to shoot and carry with factory lightweight 24" barrel. 303 savage

Looks like an honest, original gun. The factory letter is a plus.

Rice Lewis and Son Ltd. was/is located in Toronto. Nice bit of provenance.

Nice old 303. Rice Lewis and Sons Ltd were a hardware store selling tools, fasteners, agricultural goods and everything else needed on the homestead. I found a catalogue microfiche of theirs from 1898, it’s 1090 pages. The Savage 1899 in 303 Savage is on page 1062 and sold for$27.05 Canadian then. Interesting store. You won’t regret buying a 303 Savage.

Nick

Something's off there.

99A's had a crescent buttplate. It looks like a 99E. But.. 99E's didn't have 24" barrels in 303 Savage. They have 22" barrels except for 300 Savage.

I'm guessing it's a 99A with special order shotgun style buttplate.. but apparently that wasn't logged in the ledger. Another option is somebody swapped barrels or buttstock later, but the barrel address is from the right time and the buttstock fits like a factory buttstock. Interesting.

Yeah, I caught that crescent butt too. I think the early 99A is one of the slickest looking models.

Both sights are wrong too. From later guns and the rear is not from any 99 lower than the 1 mill mark.

Agree.
Confirmation would be if the serial numbers all match.
Report back...

Really? Having original sights isn't important I guess?

Hey thanks for the comments. Unfortunately I have left my Murray book out at my winter trapline cabin which I cannot access at the moment. I would prefer an original gun, what I like about this one is the size and lines, and the un buggered screws.

So the thinking is the sights are not original on this one? And maybe not the wood?

I do have 3 .303's already, 2x 1899 A's 26" round barrels, a 1909 and 1926 as well as an 1899H can't remember the year. I shoot them regularly and have hunted them.

(I also have two lever safety 99F's that I really like, a .300 and a .308 [and a .22HP H])

Mike, I show a #20 SR flat top sporter as correct for the rear in 1930, and a Lyman 28 as correct for the front. I'm not sure if that elevator is right.. but I think the sights are.

Another possibility is that this is from 1930.. companies were still reeling from the Depression and crash. They might have just ran out of crescent buttplates for a while and used shotgun buttplates.

The front sight is from a later '50s gun. The rear sight is from a Stevens or Savage bolt gun or .22...or something. It is not a period correct FTS.

I'm still learning on sights... and those #20 flat tops are confusing. So school me. Are these all wrong? Or are there differences?

His:



Serial number 331,266 - 99G in 250-3000.




Serial number 337,6xx - 99G in 300

The flat top sporter uses a wide/thick elevator just like the other sights of the era. If it has the skinny slot and elevator it is not a true FTS.

From top to bottom: #1 looks wrong #2 is right #3 is probably right but I don't have real good view of it.

I've got pics but will have to reload them somewhere since my host site shut down.

I knew the elevator was wrong, but wasn't sure if his was just a swapped out elevator. I think I understand. The slot on his does go much farther down the sight also.

All that aside, if the 4 numbers match I'd take a swing at it.

You can find period correct sights and Shazam, wicked cool gun.

Mike is correct on the sights. Back and front (the upper insert part) are not from the 30's. Why they would have been removed/replaced ...maybe had a Stith scope mount at one time?

Would be nice to know what was stamped on the front of the receiver and to verify serial on wood and plate. And, the brl should have the last three numbers of the serial stamped on the bottom. I would call it a 99-E with a long brl. but I'll go with the Cody letter.

Back to your question of is it worth the price. I've seen worse that sold for more. If you like it go for it. Looks like a good shooter and the non-crescent plate is better for that.